Day 10: Madeira

Back again and hopefully the situation with my blog is fixed. I heard back from some of my loyal readers that it was very difficult to see my posts since posting via e-mail. Luckily, it was while I was in port, so I was able to actually log into my blog & fix it. Since I was short on time I just did a quick fix. I'm not happy with the look of it, but I'd rather my readers be able to see what I'm writing. I'll fix it once I'm in Fl.

So today was our day in Madeira, Portugal. This port I wasn't too interested in but it ended up being my favorite... well, out of Spain, Portugal & Gibraltar that is. Nothing this trip will top Ireland. Anyway. It was a beautiful country! It's basically an island off the coast of Portugal and it's basically like one big mountain with houses built into it. All the building by law have to be painted either white or cream and have to have these orange(ish) tile roofs. It's just gorgeous. It reminded us a lot of Hawaii. It had the same look. The island is basically a giant lava mountain, so it has all the gorgeous flowers and lush green trees. Just beautiful. This port I had hired a private taxi tour guide named Carlos. He had to be our best tour guide this trip- which was good for many reasons. The roads were tiny & straight up. The highest we went was 3,000 feet above sea level and we could have still gone higher. These roads were a car sickness person's worst nightmare. I got a little sick on the way up. It was still worth it though. The best part is how we started the day. Madeira is known for their toboggans. These are giant whicker basket sleds that they use to carry goods up and down the mountain with. Now they use these for rides for the tourists. Two men are dressed in white paints, stripped shirts & whicker hats. They stand on the backs of the sleds and use their feet for the brakes and steering. They wear shoes with giant rubber soles. We decided we'd go for the ride. That was probably the scariest thing I have ever done! I had seen it on youtube and it looked so nice and peaceful. Not so much. We were doing about 20 mph in a whicker basket going straight down these winding streets- that cars were still driving on! Worst part- we would cross intersections as we were flying down this mountain! I took video of the entire ride and the best part is my mom screaming the whole way down. You could probably hear her back at home. The guys "driving" the sled were having fun with her. The one behind her would say, "Okay, Bye, bye now." Then my mom would freak out. He'd laugh. Then while she was screaming he would say, "Mama mia.". She'd freak out more. It was hysterical. The best part though was when we're flying down this mountain freaking out & he assures her, "Don't worry... this is my first day...... No, no, it's actually my second." He was hysterical and so was she. We were in a 3 person one and so apparently it's harder to control the bigger ones, so the worst part was to keep the weight balanced we had to have the lightest part of the basket first. Yeah, so I was sitting on the left side of the basket, so we rode the majority of the time sideways- me first! It felt like we were going to tip the whole time. Then our tour guide came driving by- passing us laughing hysterical. Then for a good portion of it we had a truck driving behind us. It was quite the experience. They also take your picture as you're riding which is a sight to see. My mom is smiling, I'm in the middle of saying the word "picture" and my dad looks like he's about to have a heart attack. Priceless. I'll post it once in Florida. 

After we cheated death via whicker, we headed back up the mountain to see the 2nd highest cliff in the world- the highest in Europe. Talk about scary. It took me about 5 minutes to ease myself all the way up the the edge. My dad made it about 5 feet from the edge and then disappeared. He didn't do well on this Island as he's afraid of heights and that's all it was. It was a great tour and we really enjoyed it- well my mom & I did. I think my dad's eyes were closed the entire 4 hour tour.

We headed back on the ship after the tour to have some lunch. After that we all found a comfy chair out by the pool. They slept while I wrote up the two days I was behind for the blog, fixed the blog's text issues and wrote some post cards. Carpal tunnel- table for one.

After that I have no clue what my parents did, but I headed back to my room where I watched a classic that I haven't see since I was a kid- The Mighty Ducks. What a blast from the past! After the great movie I got ready for dinner. Tonight's theater entertainment was a hypnotist comedian. I wanted no part in that, so I just had a more relaxed time getting ready for dinner. I will never forget what a family friend of ours said about hypnotists- "If you're not in control of your body, then who is?" No thank you. I wanted no part in it.

Dinner was great. Our waiters are hysterical- Renaldo from the Philippines especially. We left Madeira tonight and we're really booking. The seas have been like glass so far, but we've been going pretty slow so far. Now that we've started our journey across the atlantic we're moving quick. Right now we're going 20 nautical miles (per hour?). The ship's max speed is 26 or 27 nautical miles. So we're feeling that we are actually on a ship for the first time. It's not bad at all and we've had worse. We're hoping that this is all it will be, but we're ready for worse. At dinner we started taking ginger tablets just in case and we also have ginger hard candies. Normally any other cruise isn't like this and we never really take anything- however the Atlantic Ocean is not even close to cruising in the Mediterranean or Caribbean. The Atlantic is where hurricanes are born. You never know what type of seas you're going to get. 

After dinner I was pretty tired. The movement of the ship is very "calming". It's kinda like being rocked to sleep. So I headed to bed and I think my mom did too. My dad stayed up to see the other comedian. Tonight before bed we got to move our clocks back another hour. I could get use to this. 

Talk to you guys soon!

Day 9: 2nd Day at Sea

Our second day at sea and boy was it great! I woke up pretty early again. I took my time getting ready and then met my parents for breakfast around 9:30am. After our relaxed breakfast my dad was off to a lecture about Madeira, Portugal- our port of call tomorrow. My mom and I sat outside the adult only coffee cafe and talked... and then dozed off... and then talked. I went in the coffee cafe and ordered a cafe mocha with an extra flavoring of chocolate. For those who don't know- it's 1/3 coffee & chocolate & 2/3 steamed milk, then I added the extra chocolate flavoring and then they top it off with whipped cream & more chocolate. I got the large to share with my mom. Really I just wanted to try it and figured she'd drink most of it. I took one sip & nearly died. There was no taste of chocolate AT ALL. I added sugar... still terrible! How do you guys drink that stuff??? I can't imagine drinking it black! My mom tasted it and said it was the best cup of coffee she had ever had, while I sat in the chair next to her gaging. Sometimes I feel like I'm still 10 and this was one of those moments. I am almost 25 & I still don't drink coffee. I figure if I've made it this long, why bother starting- especially if it tastes like THAT.

After our terrible/wonderful cup of tar we headed to one of the clubs to see the first of many cooking demonstrations. The executive chef of Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom & Downtown DIsney is onboard just for these series. Today's was an appetizer. It was yellow fin tuna (rare) with a mixed salad & ginger dressing. I was really excited 'cause this was the perfect opportunity to try yellow fin tuna without wasting it or money. So he taught us how to make it and it was really quite simple since it's basically served raw. We each got a portion of the appetizer, a glass of wine and a print out of the recipe to take home. We were shocked that we enjoyed the tuna as much as we did. The thought of raw tuna is just gross to me but it was really good. Not fishy at all, like I expected it to be. I think the fish & chips I had in Ireland was more fishy.

Next all three of us headed to the theater where they were starting the first of many meets of Desperate Shipmates. It's basically like the board game or movie, Clue. It's like a mystery dinner show, but it's going to go on all cruise. Today's was for us to meet the characters & watch as the scientist and his invention went missing. We met all the possible culprits and now throughout the cruise we will be given clues throughout the ship & at meets like this one until we can figure out what happened to the scientist & his invention. The cast were real funny so it should be interesting.

After that, since DIsney owns ABC, they were screening the new tv show, No Ordinary Family. It's just like a real life Incredibles. A family who all have their own superpowers. You guys don't get to see it until next week, but they're treating us to it early. I had actually already seen the first episode from a research study I was a part of. After seeing it I knew my dad would love it. It has that actor, I think he was from the tv show, The Shield, Michael Chickless?? I have no idea how to spell it, but I think that's him. Anyway. So my dad headed there while my mom headed to the room for a nap & I went on my computer for a bit. (trying to get caught up on my posts.) We met up with my dad after the showing for lunch. He loved the new show, like I knew he would. We had a nice light lunch. After lunch my mom headed to see a movie, When in Rome, while my dad & I sat and watched the ocean go by. While we were sitting there we saw a pack... school... family... (whatever) of dolphins playing in the ocean. There were some jumping at least 3 feet out of the ocean. I was lucky enough to catch it on video, BUT you'll have to wait until I get to FL to see it, as Internet is hit & miss here. 

After we saw our little show by the dolphins we decided we'd head back and get ready for the show and dinner. Tonight's show was a family from Barcelona that danced, sang & played instruments. I was so glad we made it to our dancing show while we were in Barcelona 'cause this show tonight was disappointing. It didn't feel "Spanish" at all. The beginning half they were dressed in the outfits but danced to a track of classical music. When they finally started playing their own music and singing in the Spanish style we were over it. On top of that, their guys had to use a cane to help with the sound of the "stomping" where at our show it was just with his feet & it was incredibe. Basically, our show felt very raw & authentic, where this show felt very "It's a small word" touristy. Hope that made sense.

Next we headed to dinner, were we had another great meal with our great waiters. There was some sort of an adult show tonight but it was more of a scavenger hunt that just sounded awkward. I'm not they type to join in & act like an idiot- I'm more of the "sit in the background & watch" type. So I headed to bed.

Day 8: The Rock of Gibraltar

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">Today was an early morning. We had a tour booked with the cruise lines to drive up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar and see the caves inside. We had to meet for our tour in the theater at 7:45am. I received a phone call at 7:20am from my mom saying that they never got their wake up call. So they were a little cranky by the time I had met up with them at the theater. We were on our way driving up the Rock by 8am. What a sight! We had a very nice tour guide. He took us to see the straight of Gibraltar before heading up the Rock. After seeing that we began our scary ascend up the Rock. Now I had picked this tour so we would not have to go up via the cable car- this wasn't much better! We're talking tiny, winding roads up this mountain with no guardrails! Then this one woman was being a little loud with her fears so the driver began to "check his breaks". Like to give my mom a heart attack. I was lucky enough to be sitting on the side looking straight down with no guard rails. How'd that happen?? Anyway. Once we got up there it was gorgeous and the caves were amazing. Once we had gotten out of the caves the Apes had woken up & just finished breakfast. Gibraltar is known for these 300 or so apes that live on the Rock. They were hysterical to watch & I even got some of the babies playing in the trees on video. I also got some pictures and video of one of the older males hamming it up for the cameras. They are amazingly intelligent animals. They steal cameras, sunglasses & food especially. There was one family who went in the gift shop, bought and ice cream, walked out of the store & before they could even open the ice cream one of the Apes came along & stole the ice cream right out of their hands! Very funny. After we played around with the apes we headed back down the Rock. We went into town and shopped for a while and then it started to rain. It's incredible. We were in Ireland for 3 days and barely saw any rain & basically had sunny days all three days. Every other country we've visited, we've seen rain. Go figure. Rather than walk back in the rain we took a taxi to the ship. We got back on board and then had some lunch. After lunch my dad headed on a tour of his own back up on the Rock. This tour went inside all the WWII tunnels and showed how they lived and survived WWII. He really enjoyed it. Meanwhile my mom sat in the shade by the coffee cafe while I headed to the adult only pool. We each stayed there until it was time to get ready for our show and dinner tonight. 

Tonight was a very special show starting at 6:45pm. It was like being at a Jonas Brothers concert... just for 50 and 60 year olds. They had a special Beatles cover band. That was an experience. I like the Beetles music. I don't however like to watch 300+ old people shaking their hips. Ugh. I tell you, I was okay with the first 299 people, but that 300th hip shaker just put me over the edge. Add on top of that, I was sitting next to my mother- Beatle Mania President and CEO. Apparently she didn't get the memo "cover band". About every 10 seconds she'd lean over & tell me just how much these guys were just like the Beatles down to how they stood & everything. I thought they were great, however, I was not born in the year of the Soda Fountain & Poodle Skirt, therefore I really had nothing to compare it to. After the show was over I did some research. Aside from the 300 elbow nudges from my super excited mother- I found out from other passengers (without direct communication of course!) that they were extremely accurate and everyone in the room that was 50+ felt like they were 13 again. They really were good, 'cause they sounded just like my ipod! I really enjoyed them, especially when they sang one of my favorite songs of all time, Hey Jude. 

After the early bird special we headed to dinner. It was another amazing dinner aboard the Magic. They had an adult only show by the juggler, but non of us were really interested so we just headed to bed. Even better than heading to bed at only 10pm was that it was actually 9pm. Today was the first of our six 25 hour days!! Tonight before bed we had to set our clocks back an hour. It's like Christmas! 

Day 7: 1st day at sea.

Today was our first sea day on the ship. Since we had brunch scheduled for 11am today we figured we'd just have a lazy morning and sleep in. Then I realized that I was officially old. Sleeping in for me is waking up at 7:30am. I later found out that my dad was up real early too. He was out walking the deck while my mom slept until 9:30am. It's really weird when your parent starts sleeping in later than you. Anyway. I woke up at 7:30am and had a semi relaxed time getting dressed and ready for Palo. I say semi relaxed because there is one part of cruise that I detest. For those who don't know me too well... I am a ironing freak. I iron everyday, everything I wear. I even iron jeans & sweatshirts. On the ship irons are "not allowed" in the stateroom. Most ships have laundry rooms that have an iron in them, Disney does. However, there is almost always a line AND if you're an ironing professional, like myself, the thought of using a communal iron is overwhelming. Not happening. The only other options for ironing on board is to send them out. The prices aren't bad. Pressing service is half the price of dry cleaning. The dry cleaning on board is really cheap too... compared to NY at least. Shirts for dry cleaning are $3.50 & pants are $4.25 so to get a shirt pressed would be $1.75. The only problem is that even if I sent my stuff out yesterday & even paid extra for rush it would not make it by my 11am Palo reservation. What did I do? I brought my own travel iron. Yup, I did & I have for all 8 of my cruises. I have never gotten in trouble for it & I've never even been spoken to about it, even when I leave it out for my stateroom host to see. Now if you ask uptight cruising enthusiasts they would be stoning be right now, but they need to relax just a tad. It's an iron, not a bomb. Seriously. I've had people freak out on me about bringing my travel iron (with auto shut off) on board because I'm endangering their lives because I am now a fire risk. Meanwhile these people bring onboard flat irons. News Flash: That is exactly the same technology... but actually it's like you're bring two irons on! Shocking, I know. They'll also bring curling irons AND they'll smoke on board. I'm getting the evil eye over a travel iron while they're bringing matches on board. Yeah, okay. The best part is when they go on & on about how they're on vacation and they don't care what people think when they see them on wrinkles. Yada, yada, yada. Yeah, I don't care what people think of me at all, I do, however, want the pictures that I spent $400 on to look wrinkle free! I digress.

So I proudly took out my travel iron and it's like Disney even planned on people ironing in their room. They have a coffee table that goes up & down kinda like an ironing board. I lay a towel on that & presto... comforts of home. So I ironed a bunch of my stuff & managed to not burn down the ship in the process. Can you believe it?? That's talent! Then I headed off to meet my parents on the top deck, deck 10 aft (back), for our amazing brunch. Our waiter from last night, don't ask me to remember how to spell his name, was at the door waiting for us. He brought us to our table and then fun began! Palo brunch is probably, no it is, the best meal I have ever eaten! It's amazing. Basically the appetizers and desserts are buffet and then you order your main course and pizzas. This isn't your TGI Fridays though. The appetizers are things like fresh crab legs & claws (already cracked open) mozzarella & tomatoes, caviar, cheeses, all kinds of antipasti, scallops, danishes, stolen bread, hot cinnamon bun, then a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't even know the name of or how to spell. Then they bring you a pizza. We had the pesto, sausage. It was to die for, The pizza crust is paper thin... actually more like cardstock, but you get the idea. Then we ordered our entree. It was brunch so there were breakfast entrees & lunch entrees. They had pancakes with fresh whipped cream in between each one, a frittata (an open faced omelet) & then three different types of eggs benedict. I forget the names I think one was eggs julienne & that one had spinach, then the regular one & then one with salmon. My dad order the regular eggs benedict- so predictable. Then on the lunch side there is my personal favorite & what both my mom & I ordered, chicken parmesan on a bed of parmesan polenta. To die for. There were also other options... veal something, tuna, another type of fish, a veggie lasagna I think. I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention. I remembered that chicken parmesan from when I had it 3 years ago before even walking in, so I wasn't really paying attention. After all that amazing food it was time to eat more & have dessert back up at the buffet. I'm not going to even try and list them all. The ones I had were amazing!  

After Palo we rolled ourselves down to deck 3 aft for our special Disney Vacation Club Member Celebration. This ship holds 2,000 passengers, we're not full & we had 500 DVC members on board! So I guess we weren't the only ones who decided to go one this cruise for "free". At this "celebration" they have trivia for prizes, they tell you the deals they're offering if you add on more points and then we got to see a video of the newest DVC resort that is being built in Hawaii. The resort looks beautiful! I've been to the area they're building it and it's gorgeous! I can't wait for it to be done!      

After the DVC meet we headed back up to the room to change- we had to be in resort casual for Palo & didn't have the time to change before the DVC meet. After changing my mom & I headed to the Walt Disney Theater to see a pretty popular cast member do a talk. This guy is not just a cast member at Disney World, but a character illustrator. He's been drawing the characters for 30 years! You know the arch you go under once you are on Disney property? It had the fab 5. He drew all of those characters. He also has drawn every park map for the last 30 years. His name is Don "Ducky" Williams. He has to have the most amazing story of how he got the coveted job, starting with a letter to Walt when he was 10... & Walt actually wrote back! He still has the letter. Basically he told his story of becoming a cast member while drawing 16 different characters. At the end they raffled all 16 off. I of course did not win. Oh well.

After that we found my dad sleeping on a chair on the Promenade deck. We sent him to the movie theater to see Prince of Persia while my mom & I when to the future sales desk and booked a 4 day cruise on the brand new ship, the Disney Dream. We're going to sail out on October 23, 2011- my birthday! Booking onboard is always best because they give you all kinds of deals. By booking on board we only had to pay a $100 deposit versus $500. We also received onboard credit of $100 for this cruise & if I remember right some onboard credit for that cruise as well. It's a great deal and the bigger the cruise you book the more incentives you get. 

After that my mom & I attended the art auction. That's a fun experience even if you don't plan on buying anything. Next we headed back to our room to get ready for dinner & the show. Tonight is our first of 2 formal nights. To save on luggage (ha!) we rented my dad a tux on board. He looked so cute. We got all dolled up, went down & took some pictures, then went to the theater to see a b-way style show, Twice Charmed. It's a new take on the Cinderella story- what if both glass slippers broke. After the cute show we headed to see the pictures we had taken so far and I ordered the photo cd. 

Next it was on to dinner were we met our waiters. On the Disney ships there are three different main restaurants that you go to on a rotation at night. Each night you're in a different one but your waiters follow you. It's nice 'cause you get to know them. We have some fun waiters. We've been laughing non stop. Our head waiter (we call "Z" 'cause no one can pronounce his name) is really nice. Our assistant waiter is so much fun! His name is Renaldo and he has a laugh that is so funny. He could say something serious, but if he laughed after we'd all be hysterical! He's great! After our dinner we went up and changed and headed to the theater to see the ventriloquist do an adults only show. I thought he was funny when we saw him last night, but after tonight he has got to be the funniest comedian I have ever seen! Now I love comedians. My brother & I would go to tons of shows. We even saw Dane Cook at Caroline's in the city before he was known. We've seen a ton of comedians, but I have never laughed as hard AND been amazing by his talent so much! Youtube him or try and find his website- you won't be sorry. It was awesome. His name is Jimmy Tamley. He's from the UK. He was great and the best part was when his "puppet's" arm broke and the problem was it was a boxer and he was in the middle of a routine telling how he was boxing in a match. It was hysterical. Then as he's trying to continue with a boxer with only one arm working & then the puppet's shorts fell down. The whole place lost it including Jimmy Tamley. He was amazing on his feet. I think that's why I enjoyed him even more. He's truly funny- he doesn't just have a set, he can improvise amazingly. LOVED him! He has another show tonight but it's geared towards kids really and then he gets off the ship tomorrow. I'll be watching for him when I get home. 

A clip of Jimmy Tamley from our cruise...

After that it was time to call it a night. It was 12am and we have a tour with a meeting time of 7:30am tomorrow morning. We're going inside the Rock of Gibraltar!

Talk to you soon!